Dui No-jury Measure Goes Too Far

IN HIS ZEAL to crack down on drunken drivers who threaten the lives of so many Floridians, a state lawmaker has unwisely suggested trampling on an important constitutional right.

State Rep. Art Grindle, R-Altamonte Springs, has filed a bill that would deny first offenders arrested for drunken driving the right to a jury trial. Instead, they would have to be tried by a judge.

Floridians are justifiably outraged at the plague of drunken drivers on local roads, whose presence is responsible for fully half the highway fatalities. Florida lawmakers have already adopted some of the toughest drunken driving statutes in the country, calling for severe penalties ranging from loss of driving privileges to fines and jail terms, depending on the severity of the case and whether it involves a repeat offender.

But Florida lawmakers must never get so carried away with the need to get tough with drunken drivers that they are tempted to pass a law that violates constitutional rights.

Grindle`s law would never survive the first court challenge, because it clearly violates Amendment 6 of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. This provides, in part, that ``in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury . . .``

This unwise, unnecessary and certainly unconstitutional measure should be quickly rejected by the House Criminal Justice Committee.